Gonsalvius, for example, mentions a striking instance of the duplicity and cruelty of the lords of the Holy Office. "In the first fire that was blown up at Seville," says the author, "in 1558 or 1559, among many others who were taken up, were a certain pious matron, her two daughters, and her niece. Unable to effect his purpose by means of the torture, the Inquisitor ordered one of the daughters to be brought before him. Having discoursed with her for a considerable time, he pretended to feel the greatest affliction for her amidst her trials. All this, as the event showed, had only this tendency, that after he had persuaded the poor simple girl that he was really, and with a fatherly affection, concerned for her calamity, and would consult as a father, what might be for her benefit and salvation, and that of her relatives, she might throw herself upon his protection. After spending several days in such familiar discourses, during which he pretended to mourn with her over her sufferings, and to be affected with her miseries, adding innumerable promises of his desire to free her from them; when he perceived that he had deceived the girl, he proceeded to persuade her to discover all she knew, not only of herself, but of her mother, sisters, and aunts, protesting upon oath, that if she would faithfully reveal to him every particular, he would find out a method to relieve her from all her misfortunes, and to send them all back again to their homes. Possessed of no great penetration, the girl, allured by the promises and persuasions of this father of the holy faith, proceeded to inform him of some things relative to the doctrines which she had been taught, and concerning which they had been accustomed to converse with each other. Having now got hold of the thread, the Inquisitor dexterously enough endeavoured to find his way through the whole labyrinth—often calling the girl to audience, that what she had deposed might be taken down in a legal manner; and always persuading her that this would be the only just means to put an end to all her evils. But when the poor girl expected the performance of his numerous promises, the Inquisitor, finding the success of his craftiness, by which he had in part drawn from her what before he could not extort by torments, determined again to put her to the torture, in order to force out of her what he imagined she had yet concealed. She was accordingly subjected to torture, both by the rack and water, till the Inquisitors had squeezed out of her, as with a press, both the heresies and accusations of the persons they had been hunting after; for, through the extremity of her torture, she accused her mother and sister, and several others, who were apprehended and tortured, and burnt alive in the same fire with the girl!" FOOTNOTE: